Life on a String

Two blind musicians are travelling to a remote village in Mongolia: an old master who hopes one day to see the world again, and his young pupil Shitou. As a boy, the master was given a secret recipe that could heal him, but only after the thousandth string on his qin (a traditional instrument) has broken.
In the meantime, the pupil rebels against the ascetic life of his master, dedicated completely to music. He falls in love with a peasant girl, provoking the anger of the village community. Life on a String is about the power and magic of faith. Real dreams and feelings are buried deep, hidden from the outside world – this is how Kaige saw the conformist, fearful silence in China. Life on a String, by now legendary director Chen Kaige (Farewell My Concubine, Together and The Emperor and the Assassin, among others) was the first film to be supported by the Hubert Bals Fund.